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Preservationists fight on as one Downtown building falls

One building is already coming down, but El Paso preservationists are gathering signatures on a petition in hopes of getting City Council to stop an El Paso developer from demolishing four other dilapidated buildings on a block in Downtown El Paso.

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Preservationists fight on as one Downtown building falls

Vic Kolenc, El Paso Times
Published 6:35 p.m. MT Nov. 16, 2015

The 100-year old Lincoln Center might have received another shot of life after City Council voted to develop a plan for its use.(Photo: TIMES FILE PHOTO)

One building is already coming down, but El Paso preservationists are gathering signatures on a petition in hopes of getting City Council to stop an El Paso developer from demolishing four other dilapidated buildings on a block in Downtown El Paso.

"The very heart of our community is being demolished very, very quickly," said Max Grossman, vice chairman of the El Paso County Historical Commission, a County Commissioners' appointed body, and an assistant professor of art history at UTEP.

Adam Frank, president of River Oaks Properties, which has city permits to demolish former retail locations at 212 to 220 E. San Antonio at Mesa, and a vacant former fabric store around the corner at 109 S. Mesa, said last week that the buildings have no historical significance, and would be too costly to remodel. The large El Paso shopping center developer is tearing down the buildings for yet unspecified future development.

Demolition began during the weekend on the building at 109 S. Mesa, and much of the building was torn down by Tuesday. That had Grossman wondering if things were speeded up because of preservationists' efforts to halt the demolitions.

But Frank, in an email Tuesday, said the permits were issued in March, and "everything is moving forward according to our original time line."

More than 400 signatures had been collected by Tuesday via an online petition, asking City Council to stop the demolitions and require that a plan be formulated to save the buildings' facades. The signatures are being collected on the Texas Trost Society Web site, texastrost.org. The goal is to get 1,000 signatures by the end of the week, said Grossman, who also is part of the organizing team for the Trost Society, another El Paso historical preservation group.

The Trost Society and Historical Commission plan to hold a protest outside the buildings Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Grossman said his and others' research discovered the buildings on San Antonio were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and are "the oldest standing masonry buildings in Downtown."

It was River Oaks, which acquired the buildings over several years, that allowed the buildings to fall into disrepair, Grossman noted.

Photos of the buildings in the 1900s show them with "gorgeous" facades now hidden by concrete and other coverings, Grossman said. The photos are posted on the Texas Trost Society's Facebook page.

This latest demolition plan shows the "larger problem of the mass demolition of Downtown," Grossman said.

River Oaks last year tore down a historic building at 104 E. San Antonio over building preservationists' objections. River Oaks officials said the building was damaged in a fire that destroyed the adjacent, 130-year-old building, also owned by River Oaks, at 100 E. San Antonio. That area is now an empty lot.

Last year, the Borderplex Community Trust, a Downtown real estate investment trust, also demolished several buildings at 218 to 230 N. Mesa at Mills over preservationists' objections. That too, is an empty lot. Borderplex officials have said a mixed-use development will go there in the future.

"I am a private enterprise guy, and believe in the rights of property owners," Grossman said. "But it is a gray area when talking about historical buildings. They (property owners) also are custodians of our shared history."